Camping Pictures

Here are pictures from last weekend's camping outing with our small group. Although it was short, it was very sweet! The first few hours were not documented as people trickled in, set up tents, applied bug dope, explored our surroundings, played whiffle ball, and munched on trail mix.

Eventually a critical mass began to gather by the fire. This was the Reece's S'mores debut, as well as the debut of a less than stellar gluten free apple crisp recipe that I tried in the dutch oven. Always fun to try, not always a success though!

This is the crowd around the fire... the Lindquists, Madalyn and Hope,
The Gibsons and Nate,
Eric, Becca B., Lily, Bronte, Esther, Leah (Eric M. is cut off),

Me and Ashley the camping mega-maniac,

Bert, Beki, Beth, Anna, Ian,

The campfire was the location of many scary stories, a few funny stories, great testimonies, deep talks, singing, and laughing. Eventually everyone drifted off to bed.

In the morning, everyone slowly drifted back to the fire, where it was more of the same, except with glorious sunshine and a bit of...

hair braiding and

caterpillar rescuing... Yes! That is a huge, juicy, green caterpillar giant. Hope is a caterpillar fanatic!

The campsite was well stocked with a myriad of different kinds of caterpillars. The girls founded a caterpillar hospital, though I'm not really sure what took place there. Madalyn is holding up her arm to show off an albino crawler!

Shelly and Sarah talked,

Becca knitted,

then we all headed to the lake for lunch.

Gwen was a tummy time superstar!

Esther was a sand castle eating superstar!

Hope was a sandy sunbathing superstar!

Anna took Esther and Ian out for a wet romp, which they both loved!

Eva practiced the backstroke for probably the last time this summer.

And..... one out of order photo. Tim and Ashley at the fire.

Shelly and Anna chit chatted, and Eva splashed them with water (WHO? Eva?!? Couldn't be....)

And, a fun time was had by all!

Wordless Wednesday - BWCA 2010

Campfire Cooking III: the Staycation Version

We've harassed our nearest and dearest friends about never inviting us along on camping trips for as long as we've known them. To their credit, we did camp together once about 3 years ago, and once because our entire small group from church went. Somehow, our nagging finally won them over (I'm not sure that's always a recipe for success, folks!), and they suggested we set a date for this summer. After much procrastinating, we decided on the weekend of August 8th. And after much more procrastinating, we discovered that every place we wanted to camp was full for that weekend. We set up an alternative plan involving a nearby campground, and everyone was pleased and excited. BUT, as I drove to the nearby campground at 7:15 AM to attempt to guarantee any available campsite, I realized we were in a torrential downpour that showed no signs of stopping. After several quick phone conferences, we determined that this (our final planned camping trip of the season) would be a sleepover at our house.

Frankly, this option suited us all well. I appreciated a whole extra day at home with nothing planned. I recall getting a lot done, though I can't remember what! When it thunder stormed most of the night, we were happy that we weren't holding down the tent stakes with a four year old and three girls under two. And, when I did a single load of laundry the next day and packed and unpacked nothing, I thought maybe we should make sleepovers an annual event. Wahoo!

I had, however, planned for a lot of camping food. So, we replicated our rainy campsite in our own intermittently rainy backyard. The dinner menu was meatloaf flower dinner in the dutch oven. It is basically a ring of meatloaf, with a pretty arrangement of carrots, potatoes, and asparagus in the center.

The flavors are nothing out of the ordinary, but it was fun to put together! We had planned to make stick biscuits (using refrigerated biscuit dough) over the fire, but I popped them in our oven instead. A simple green salad came along for the ride! Here are the proud tender of the coals and the finished (wilted) product:

Here are the girls enjoying their outdoor meal:

After throwing the dirty dishes in the automatic dishwasher (see staycations are pretty sweet!), we lit up the fire for some tasty desserts.

The desserts, Hobo Pies and S'mores, are ordinary pleasures to some, but they should not be overlooked in one's camp food repertoire. In case you need a visual tutorial-

Eva demonstrates an effective heat shield for one's face, in the occasion you have both short arms and a short roasting stick.

This is the cast-iron hobo pie iron, double wide. To make a hobo pie, you must thoroughly butter the inside of the pie iron, place a piece of bread on one side of the iron, add fillings of your choice (we used canned apple pie filling, but broken-up snickers bars are my fave!), and top with a second piece of bread. Clamp the pie iron closed, and place it in the fire, turning occasionally. Depending on the heat of the fire, these can cook up really fast, so be sure to check your progress often! Here are side by side "apple pies."

In this photo, my husband demonstrates "double fisting it" with s'mores :)

Although the original s'more is pretty delicious (albeit a little sweet for my tastes), there are many incredible variations on the theme. One of our favorites lately has been to skip the Hershey's bar and graham cracker and use Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies instead. And a word to the wise, on Eva's prodding I caved and bought "strawberry" marshmallows last summer (you know, the pink ones!). Though they might have eye appeal, they are not delicious campfire fare. I doubt the multi-colored variety would be any better. Just a warning based on our own personal research :)!

The rest of our sleepover involved indoor cooking, movie watching, board games, an indoor pool, and a rainy picnic, but we had a blast nonetheless. Here are some parting shots: what are little ladies to do when it rains for 36 hours straight, but DANCE!?!

4 Generational Camping

Pics to share, pics to share, each to their own, we all have our flair-

-Can you tell I've been reading a little too much Dr. Seuss lately? Along with the constant rhyming riddles I've been forced to invent, I'm not sure I'll be able to write this post without a little rhythm.- (consider yourself forewarned, and feel free to click the 'back' button now :)

We camped at Father Hennepin State Park, three tents, and G&G in their camper van. The main attraction was Lake Mille lacs, a real doozy of a Minnesota lake! The pics follow, in no particular order-

We all slept through the night, but come daylight the littlest was out of sight.

Bites from mosquitoes cause Eva some grief, but Grandma Spears will cure it with a flat green leaf. (Wild Plantain, in case you'll complain)

Quesadillas with veggies may cause some to get wedgies, but cooking over the fire makes all perspire.

Hope is afloat with Grandma in the boat.

Eva's dearest wish: to catch a big fish!

These beach bums are never done- content all day to soak up the sun.

Eva's hands were crawlin', and Auntie was bawlin'!18 baby loons, and the Great-Grandma swoons.They're biology nerds, and they sure love their birds!Ready for fun galore, Eric pushes us off shore.Great Grandparents are brave to ride this wave.Mama's turn for a ride, babies by her side.Hope lets out a snore, missing the variety to be seen on shore.The whole gang finds gain in a shelter from the rain.And now my story is told, and my fingers are cold. My brain has gone numb, as the late hour makes me dumb. Three cheers for outings with all sorts of stages, we hope we can do this for many coming ages. If not, we'll feel blessed for this one weekend of rest with our loved ones by our side taking in the tide, watching the little ones dockside, happy to abide. The End.